The main Galaxy course textbooks are:
• J. Binney & M. R. Merrifield, Galactic Astronomy, Princeton University Press, 1998
(a detailed review of the Galaxy and galaxies in general, with summaries of results from the research literature).

• G. Gilmore, I. King & P. van der Kruit, The Milky Way as a Galaxy, University Science Books, 1990,
previously published as the 19th Advanced Course of the Swiss Society of Astrophysics and Astronomy (Saas-Fee), publ. Geneva Observatory, Switzerland, 1989
(a detailed discussion of the Galaxy with an observational emphasis).

• S. Phillipps, The Structure and Evolution of Galaxies, publ. John Wiley and Sons Ltd., 2005
(a readable, but detailed introduction to galaxies in general from an observational viewpoint).